Trouble on Presnya
The scandalous story surrounding the development of the territory of the Krasnopresnenskaya Thermal Power Plant, located in Moscow next to the World Trade Center, took an unexpected turn. According to one version, the Tashir Group of Businessman Samvel Karapetyan, whose subsidiary owns the land plot of the former CHPP-7, is going to hold his supporters in the upcoming autumn elections to the Moscow City Duma in electoral district No. 43 (Presnensky and Khoroshevo-Mnevniki districts), who will allow the developer, after a protracted pause, to build two cylindrical skyscrapers on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment, reminiscent from afar of the Transcaucasian delicacy churchkhela.
Photo: t. me/Real estate insides
MK decided to check this information and went to Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment. Having talked to the guards of the «seven», we found out that silence has reigned at the site for many months. Employees in special uniform confirmed that the land plot belongs to a subsidiary of the Tashir Group of Companies.
As the press service of the Department of Cultural Heritage of Moscow told MK, building 10, building 1, on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment (the main building with a water treatment tower, built by the famous architect Moisei Babitsky — MK) is still a cultural heritage site . As you know, a historical monument in the capital cannot be destroyed under any pretext.
According to the inspector of the Moscow City Heritage Department, who supervises this facility, the department has not received any acts of state examination that have undergone public hearings, nor other initial permitting documentation, and without them it is impossible to understand what the concept for the further development of the territory will be.
To MK’s request to Tashir Group of Companies with a request to calm down agitated public activists and tell them about when and what facilities the company plans to build on the territory of the former CHPP-7, a dry and laconic answer was received by email: “At the moment, the concept of a multifunctional complex on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment is under development. After completion and finalization, the concept will be sent for approval in the prescribed manner. Additional details will be announced later on our website.» Which, you see, did not bring any clarity.
Therefore, for clarification, we turned to public activists who have been closely monitoring the situation around CHPP-7 for many years. “For now, the fate of the station is in limbo. But the approved project for the protection of the Trekhgornaya Manufactory clearly spells out the regulations. They have at least three sections where new construction with a height of up to 78 m is possible,” Igor Shikhov, a member of the Arkhnadzor movement, told MK. In his opinion, the site immediately behind the station, which currently houses a four-story building, is most suitable for placing capital construction projects. It was this that the developer had previously planned to demolish in order to build a huge house here, which would completely “block” the view of Trekhgorka from the embankment.
As a participant in the capital's commercial real estate market, who wished to remain anonymous, told MK, given the financial capabilities, connections and unique reputation of the Tashir Group of Companies, the version with the Moscow City Duma may well turn out to be plausible. “Such a scenario is possible. In the Moscow City Duma election campaign that has just started, most of its participants have sponsors. Incl. and among businessmen. But any information about parliamentary candidates and potential beneficiaries must be carefully verified,” noted Evgeniy Strotsinsky, coordinator of the Arkhzastava public movement. “It’s no secret that in the current convocation of the Moscow City Duma there are deputies who actively lobby the interests of developers. There are many such lobbyists in the State Duma,” added Shikhov.
Let us recall that the current deputies of the Presnensky district, taking into account the mood of local residents-voters, have always been hostile to the initiatives of the Tashir Group of Companies on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment.
As MK wrote earlier, in 2010 the boiler station, which was a historical monument at that time, was closed. The idea arose to house an avant-garde museum in its buildings. In 2014, the owner of the buildings became the Yurgazservice company, which is a subsidiary of Tashir. She clearly had other plans. The new owner planned to demolish most of the buildings and erect a huge “barbecue house” on the site of the station, which Shikhov spoke about above. Apparently, to achieve this goal in 2016, 6 out of 7 thermal power plant buildings unexpectedly lost the status of historical objects to the public.
In 2019 and 2020 the owner of the main building of CHPP-7 was fined 100 thousand rubles. for failure to carry out restoration work. The company was obliged to propose a project to preserve the main building, install a corresponding sign on the building and carry out work, but this was not done. Tashir announced an assessment of the scope of work and agreement on deadlines.
For the sake of preserving the legendary CHPP-7 in the center of Moscow, a group of local deputies, politicians, and architects created an initiative group to hold a referendum. In September 2020, activists held a series of actions to protect an architectural monument near the Moscow City Heritage building and unfurled a two-hundred-meter Russian flag near the boiler room. The idea of a plebiscite was supported by residents of the area, who signed the corresponding appeal.
The wave of protests was not in vain. Under pressure from public activists and local residents, Tashir canceled the renovation project, which included a “barbecue house,” and reassured the public by assuring that the historical appearance of the station would not be affected.
Two years ago, in July 2022, the developer presented to the public a new renovation plan for CHPP-7, where two cylindrical skyscrapers now dominated the former station building. The concept of the project (with the exception of the facade, which visually resembles a churchkhela) does not shine with originality. On the site of the monument to Soviet constructivism, another “anthill” will appear with apartments, offices and a shopping center on the ground floor. Nothing new.
But another corner of old Moscow will disappear. And at the same time, the load on the social infrastructure of the Presnensky district, which is already “bursting at the seams” due to the Moscow City high-rises, will increase significantly. After all, apartments are not considered housing by law. This means that no one can oblige the developer to take into account the interests of local residents and force them to build new kindergartens, schools and hospitals.
As Evgeny Strotsinsky noted, the next development project near the architectural monument of the Krasnopresnenskaya Thermal Power Plant will have an extremely negative impact on it even without that deplorable state. Over the past three years, according to him, the owner of the land plot has not brought the thermal power plant into proper condition. “Most likely, the developer’s plans do not include restoring the monument. Consequently, residents of Presnya and Muscovites will lose another object of history and culture, and Krasnopresnenskaya embankment will finally turn into a pile of soulless sparkling skyscrapers,” emphasized the coordinator of the Arkhzastava movement.
MK will monitor the development of this socially significant stories.